Redenim Stretches the Jean Pool

Kelly Ernst, Redenim

By establishing the first registered distillery in the country, Jack Daniel built his success on two fundamental ingredients: identifying a need in the community and crafting a quality process to satisfy that need. Today, Gentleman Jack Tennessee Whiskey honors the makers who follow this time-honored success model of finding the sweet spot of where demand and innovation intersect.

Kelly Ernst had pitched her company Redenim countless times in boardrooms before taking the stage during the 2017 Gentleman Jack Pitch Distilled competition in Austin, Texas. But this crowd, Ernst knew, felt different. Pitching in front of a live audience and a panel of curious judges felt more like a party, giving Ernst the chance to test out a theory she’s always had about being an entrepreneur.

“Any entrepreneur can talk about their business,” Ernst says. “But what people are really interested in hearing and getting to know is the entrepreneur themselves. If you can let your personality really permeate into the larger business you’re pitching, that’s what people are interested in. That’s what they’re buying.”

Ernst’s pitch for Redenim was subversive and even silly. “We want you to get in our pants,” she told the audience, explaining how her company, Redenim, aims to make shopping for jeans a less torturous experience.

Her approach was successful: she took home the top prize. Ernst cites persistent passion as the difference-maker for this victory and those that have followed.

Based in Austin, Redenim allows customers to order premium jeans and try them for seven days before making their decision to buy. The company currently offers jeans from six designer brands, and it’s eager to expand. Ernst says the company is in the process of fundraising, taking on more customers and plans for a formal, full-scale launch early next year.

Ernst says she spent Pitch Distilled’s $5,000 prize money on moving the company’s beta program along and onboarding more customers, but the publicity around winning the competition has perhaps been the biggest boon.

“Whenever I would talk about Rednim, everybody was like, ‘Oh, I read about you in Wired!’” Ernst says. “We just met with one of our designers in Dallas and she saw us in Wired. And that was really refreshing, because we rely on our designers for products, and to know they’re seeing us doing well has been neat.”

None of this success would have come without Ernst’s flexibility and humility. Redenim’s current business model is the result of careful attention to its customers’ habits, and not exactly what Ernst envisioned. She intended Redenim would give customers a place to profit from their used designer jeans. Instead, the customers saw it as a try-before-you-buy denim shopping.

“It took a little while to get used to that, and let go of the steering wheel, and let the customer drive,” Ernst says. “It takes a little bit of letting your ego go and giving up control in some areas. But at the end of the day, your ability to listen and to pivot may make or break your business.”

Visit Pitch Distilled to read more inspiring entrepreneurial stories and learn how distilling your business model can lead to success.

This article was produced by WIRED Brand Lab in partnership with Gentleman Jack.